An interview with Adhemas Batista, creator of the Havaianas visuals
Mihai Dragan
By Mihai Dragan
Adhemas Batista is a Brazilian Art Director, Graphic Designer and
Illustrator. Based in Los Angeles CA and worldwide known for his vivid
use of colors and for working with clients like Havaianas, Coca-Cola,
MSN, Fiat, General Motors, Volkswagen, Audi, Whiskas, Pepsi and many,
many others.
Adhemas has been working with interactive agencies like the well known
Agencia Click , later AlmapBBDO, as freelancer for AKQA, ARC
Worldwide, LOWE NY and others. He is the proud winner of awards like
Cannes Festival Young Creatives, 2 Gold Statuettes in the London
International Awards, Flash Forward winner and many others. All at the
age of 26.
Q: Hi Adhemas, can you please tell us how did you started you career
as a graphic/web designer?
A.B.:I’d started doing websites and cd-rom interfaces in 1996 working
as intern with my brother, learning software and making simple graphic
projects. Since I was a kid I liked to hand draw and my brother worked
with networking cables and hardware, but he always turn on with new
tendencies. He invited me to meet this new experience and introduced
me to the digital world. Now he is member of the executive board at
Wunderman in Brazil.
Q: How many hours do you work each week?
A.B.:I work a lot . 70 hours? I don’t really now. I need some vacation
Q: How do you relax/unwind?
A.B.:With my kids, I like to stop and play with them. I have one boy,
4 years old and a daughter, 2 years old. They are amazing, I like to
go to toy stores and buy toys for them and for me. I love soccer too.
Q: What is the particular moment in your career that you are extremely
proud of?
A.B.:I think I have some, but more important was the Havaianas
project, this one was not just a web project, I take it as my life
project, I was decided to show something good inside my soul to the
world, and the result was really good for me because I gain some world
recognition and I am today answering your questions.
Q: What software couldn’t you live without?
A.B.:Illustrator and Photoshop. Also Internet, Email.
Q: How many clients are you juggling at one time?
A.B.:I am not a good example. I love to do what I do. I can work for 2
– 3 clients on the same week.
Q: Are you planning to write a book about your experience as a
webdesigner?
A.B.:I think now I am not a webdesigner only, this word sounds limited
for me, I like to make print too, I like to work for all medias, I am
doing a bottle design label, a wall decoration. But yes, I would love
to write a book about my experience and life.
Q: What websites / web applications / interactive campaigns do you
consider visionary at the moment?
A.B.:I like good web searches with fast answers, like Google, YouTube
and Flickr, but I like to see design blogs as NTMY.org and TheFWA. As
an advertising website, I think the Nike Air was the best for me last
year. I believe in websites like that, but they have short expiration
time, 1-2 months.
Q: What do you think about interactive advertising?
A.B.: I like good websites and microsites, I am the user who likes to
wait for a video website and likes to see well done advertising. I
like cross media as Google do, when I am searching for something, at
the left side they give me some links for companies related with my
search, that’s cool too. I am not a fan of banners, I hate dhtml
banners. I think interactive advertising is good because I can choose
if I want to see it or not and a really successful campaign is easy to
know because of the viral factor. The audience is ready to say “I like
that!” and pass it on, not just funny videos.
Q: Is there anything you would like to say to young interactive
creatives in Romania?
A.B.:I would like to see more talents from Romania; internet is a
great path and cheap way to show for the world good ideas and great
projects. And for youngs, never stop dreaming. If you believe in
yourself, that’s more then enough.